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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Glee, you're killin' me

I don't write about TV very often. Not because I don't watch it, because trust me, I do. I don't usually write about TV because I rarely watch something that provokes me enough to want to write something about it. I just don't care that much.

And I don't know why I care so much about this one particular plot point from last night's episode of Glee, but it really irks me, so here goes. Warning: this may be a crazy rant, and if you don't watch Glee, just ignore this whole thing. Or read it. Or watch the show. For the most part, I really enjoy it (even if they really could use a little injection of the sour irony that has been missing from every episode since the pilot). And I loved the mother-daughter Poker Face duet, and Idina's Funny Girl situation, and the Bad Romance number (super awesome). And the guy playing Kurt is a good actor. Also, for the record, I called the Idina Menzel as Rachel's mom thing from the moment they mentioned she was under consideration for a guest appearance (and when whatshisnamehottie was "using Rachel to spy on the glee club"? I didn't believe it. I knew he was spying for Idina because she was Rachel's mom and wanted to get closer to her. Duh.) - but that is not the point of this blog post. Nor is it the cheesier than cheesy "we just all have to be who we are and not be afraid of expressing ourselves" theme (hello, stereotypical high school tv show morals).

The point of this blog post (finally) is the ridiculous plot line surrounding Kurt's dad/Finn's mom/the fact that Finn's mom decided they're moving in with Kurt and his dad without even asking Finn.

Am I the only one who thinks that this is totally unrealistic? I mean,announcing it with crudites, with Kurt, like, "surprise! we all knew about this and you didn't!" (REALLY? REALLY???) Also, why do Kurt and Finn need to share a room? Wasn't there a whole bit about "oh their house is so big! giant TV! 5 bedrooms! 2.5 bathrooms!" And what's happening with Finn/his mom's old house? After the big ole drama fight between Finn and Kurt's dad last night, are they gonna live in their old house again? I sure hope they didn't sell it yet, though in this economy, it's probably still on the market.
I think it's pretty obvious that the whole "we're moving in with them" is nothing more than a plot point inserted simply for the drama that would ensue...and um, ok. Fine. It's Glee. I know there are plenty of "unrealistic" things about it, it's a TV show, blah blah blah. But this crossed the line from "I can suspend my disbelief because it's a crazy show" to "this is distracting me from the show and I cannot connect or empathize with Kurt at all because none of this is realistic at all. I get why Finn is so pissed because this just makes no freaking sense". I honestly thought it was going to be a dream sequence.

Then again, maybe this is something that does happen in real life and I'm just naiive. Maybe some divorced parents actually do just move their kids in with another family, no questions asked (or notice given). And I know I just spent way too much energy on Glee-analysis, but seriously. Am I nuts, or is that plot point ridiculous?

7 comments:

I totally agree with you! I hated that storyline and I complained to Ryan about it last night. The parents were irresponsible for not speaking with Finn about even the possibility of moving in together.

To be honest, I was kinda disapointed that Kurt didn't apologize to Finn for his behavoir too. Both boys were in the wrong, imho. Kurt orchestrated their parents dating so he could get closer to Finn and then couldn't understand why Finn was uncomfortable sharing a room with him. If I had convinced my mom to start dating the dad of the boy I liked and then they moved in together and I got to share a room with said boy, I would expect the boy to be really uncomfortable too.

TOTALLY. I had forgotten about that aspect. Even the "little" thing of Kurt decorating the room without consulting with Finn or whatever. I mean, sure Finn probably wouldn't want to participate in that discussion, but Kurt is pretty damn oblivious. As Finn said, "I'm a dude!" - how does Kurt not get this??

Haha. Hi, Kim. Well, you kinda already gave voice to what I think... but I'm gonna try to re-articulate it anyway. This show is completely unrealistic at least 75% of the time. They make credibility sacrifices everywhere to make it more theatrical.

When the guys performed "Shout it Out Loud" last night, there were flames shooting behind them. Flames! Whenever and wherever characters feel like singing... there is always a full band that already knows the music and is ready to accompany them. They have new extravagant sets and costumes for every number! Including the ones they don't even perform for an audience.

But I see what you mean. It's different when characters behave unrealistically. In a realistic world, the parents would have known that Finn needed to be eased into the situation and that there might discomfort issues by having the boys share a room. The problem is that if the parents had been intelligent about it, and used some tact, we never would have gotten Finn on the fast track to losing his cool and getting to that scene. And the scene between Finn, Kurt, and Kurt's Dad is at the heart of what's good about Glee. Out of all the ridiculousness going on, a scene like that pops up that doesn't cringe away from dealing with a truly hard situation to look at. There's no easy answer to a dynamic like the one they've established between Kurt and Finn. It's really painful for both of them and it would have been a disservice to the audience to not let us see it explode the way that it did.

As for the stuff about the house being big enough for separate rooms and the possibility that Finn's mom already sold their old house... yeah, darling, I'm sorry, but you're definitely analyzing Glee waaaay too closely. =) That stuff NEVER makes sense on this show. Glee is nothing if not contrived and preposterous. It just chooses not to bother with the nuts and bolts. I think that the main philosophy of the writers might actually be "f**k it".

Haha yes. I am always willing to look past the flames and the costumes and the things that they never could have put together for a weekly class assignment (and Rachel's new Gaga dress that Idina supposedly sewed for her? Like, overnight? Ha.) purely for theatricality's sake. That's part of the suspense of disbelief part - it makes the show entertaining, and it's letting the characters perform to their best potential for each number, yadda yadda. When the show first started, I thought that the big production numbers would serve sort of as imaginary or dream performances...like, the kids worked on this number, here's what it looks like in their heads, or here's what they dream it will be, etc. But really, they're just singing in their street clothes in the choir room.

I know that's too much analysis, but that's what I had originally thought at the beginning. Now it seems that they just magically have fancy, highly produced production numbers, somehow, through fancy magic, aka "it's a tv show, so just let it go because fire is awesome and costumes are pretty". And I LOVED Rachel's little throwaway comment about how the pianist is always just around. That is the kind of brilliant self-awareness I love to see.

And yeah, I'm probably overanalyzing about the whole "how many rooms the house has" thing...but WHY was it necessary for them to include a line about how this house is so much bigger and has more rooms only to follow with the boys sharing a room? Seems kind of silly to mention it unless it was going to be followed with "so you don't have to share a room."

Whatev. I agree that the weird Finn/Kurt dynamic needed to be addressed, and I felt like Kurt and Finn's reactions were totally legit and believable. If only the parents weren't such idiots (this isn't South Park, after all).

=) Bravo to the South Park reference. That was definitely Randy Marsh behavior.

Yeah, I loved Rachel's joke about the accompanist, too. Needed to be said.

I think you're right about the big house line. They either should have chopped it...or over-emphasized it so that it played as an intentional joke. Like...there's 5 rooms...great, can I have one?...uh, no- because one's my room, one's the guest room, one's Kurt's sewing room, one's the dog's room, etc...

Actually what I kinda liked about the parents stupidity is how it set up Finn for "And THIS is how you're telling me?" I thought that was so good.

Right on! If they had made it a joke, it would have been just as ridiculous, but at least it would have been slightly believable within the context and rules of the world of the show (if that makes sense). Finn seems like the only sane one in this situation, even though he was the "bad guy" for using a derogatory word.